Bottle-stopper



(ModeL) I I L. S. HOYT.

BOTTLE STOPPER.

No. 361,417. PatentedApr. 19, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

LEWIS S. HOYT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOTTLE-STOPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361.417, dated April 19,1887.

' Application filed September 11, 1885. Serial No. 176,847. (Model) To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, LEWIS STEBBINs HOYT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Binding-Wire and Attached Stopple for Bottles,

' of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of stoppers secured through attached binding and locking Wires to bottles containing effervescing liquors or compounded beverages.

The object of my improved invention is to facilitate the release or unlocking of the bottlestopper through the rapidity and ease with which my improved form of bail or yoke wires removes the same, and to confine said wires and stopple away from the orifice of the bottle through a cooperating reactionary attached spring, together with a molded duple or in terchangeable oval, spherical, or otherwise formed stopple, the above aggregations,in their entirety, comprising my attached stopper, the composite structure of which, with the manner of forming said wires, will hereinafter be specifically described and illustrated.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 designates a front elevation, in part sectioned, of a bottle neck having thereto attached and locked my yoke and bail reacting spring and interchangeable stopper. Fig. 2 illustrates a side elevation of a bottleneck bearing my improved form of yoke and attachments above indicated. Fig. 3 exhibits a view of a bottleneck inverted, with the stopper and attachments unlocked and securely held against the neck by the reacting retaining-spring attached to the bail, (modified form.) Fig. 4 shows one method of attaching the retaining-spring to the neck-wire and arm of the yoke, as in Figs. 1 and-2. Fig; 5 is the modified form of said retaining-spring as attached to. the bail in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 indicates a view of the stopper vertically sectioned on a line addition of a re-enforced center of metal embracing the bail, a portion of which is shown penetrating the stopple.

Further improvements embodied with details of the construction are hereinafter more explicitly defined and fully explained through reference to the letters and figures, in which- A designates the bottle-neck; B, the ordinary neck-wire securing to said bottle-neck the yoke O, which'is shaped in the usual manner to form the eyes D D, receiving the pivotal ends of the bail. E E are the pivotal ends of the yoke, which enter and are supported by said neck-wire B. F F indicate the arms of said bail, which, previous to forming into the required shape, is passed through the stopple, (previously fitted to receive it,) which rests centrally between the ends of said bail, as at J, Fig. 7, and in position above the orifice of the bottle. Theprotruding lengths of the (bail) wire are now bent nearly to an acute angle, as shown at I I, to permit only the oscillation or free rotation of said stopper on the bail.

In Fig. 1 the two arms F F are bent to conform to the sides of the bottle-neck, and are carried beyond the receiving-eyes D D of the yoke a suitable distance to form upon each side a lever, H, which facilitates the release of the locked stopper. The ends are then reflexed, as seen at H H, and the ends G G turn inwardly, forming a right angle and resting within said eyes D D of the yoke, where they form the pivotal'point of said bail and the fulcrum of said levers H H.

In Fig. 2 I illustrate a modified construction of levers, wherein they form an integral part of the yoke O, which is elongated and reflexed to the pivotal point, as previously depicted; or I may attach arms to either bail or yoke to produce the described leverage without departing from the spirit of my invention.

In the production of my stopple I use an elastic material, preferably a compound of granulated cork and rubber particles. In its construction I prepare several quantities of said ingredients, to one or more of which I add an increased amount of sulphur or its equivalent to insure density and strength.

' In preparing the molds I select for the first quantity that compound containing the least hardening material, and consequently the greatest elasticity, which forms the duple extion of hardening material, and are shown at M M, while L indicates the perforation produced by placing a core centrally across the diameter, and removing it when the process of stopple; forming and ulcanizing is completed.

If an additional interior wearingsurface, insuring greater durability and strength, is desirable, I form a metal center, as at K, having semicircular perforations S S, to facilitate the unity of the elastic material. IVithin this metal lies the portion of the bail J upon which the stopper rotates; or said center may be substituted for the added portion of hardening material, and become firmly united to the elastic surfaces through vulcanization. Should the exigencies of the manufacture require, hardening and metal may together be employed.

The advantages accruing, in addition to durability, are obvious in the effect upon the sealingsurfaces R R, which insures closer contact with the bottle-mouth through the uniform pressure exerted by the inflexible edge of the hardened center, which for this purpose projects sufficiently over said sealing-surfaces to accomplish this result. The tendency in stoppers not embracing this feature, when pressure is centrally exerted, is to permitthrough insufficient resistance-the gases to escape around the edge of the stopple.

To restrain the swing or random movement of the stopper and bail when released, as at Fig. 3, I secure to the yoke or bail aretainingspring, 0, secured in such a manner as to resist or oppose the motion of locking. \Vhen the stopper is released from the bottlemouth, the resultant action of the spring 0 and the parts attached thereto forces and holds said stopper and its attachments away from the bottle-mouth, offering no impediment to the emptying, filling, or manipulation of the same.

The positionof the released stopper, bail, and yoke when the contents of the bottle are to be poured is illustrated in Fig. 3, wherein the bottle is inverted, the stopper is thrown away from its mouth toward the neck, and the arms E of the bail support the stopper N, which,with the yoke C, are held at an oblique angle from the plane of its position when adjusted over the orifice of the bottle, the lever ends H H of the yoke lying parallel to said plane.

The form of attaching is clearly shown in Fig. 4, wherein said spring is secured to a yoke of my improved form. B represents the neck-wire B, whence it is wound around the I pivotal end of the yoke, as at E, and again coiled around the pivotal end of the bail, as at G, thence lying parallel with one arm of said bail a desirable distance, which it embraces at the point Q.

Having described my improved invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent, and claim, is

1. In an attached bottle-stopper, a retaining-spring, 0, attached to the neclowire B, combined and cooperating with the yoke or bail wire to secure the stopper N, the bail F, and the yoke C, embracing the aggregate devices composing said stopper collectively away from the bottle-mouth, as and for the purpose specified.

2. In an attached bottlestopper, the devices herein described, comprising the bail or yoke wires forming the levers H H, the attached reacting spring 0, the duple or spherical perforated elastic-surface stopper N, having a hard vulcanized center, M, all arranged to operate as and for the purpose explained.

8. In an attached bottle-stopper, the reflexed wires H H, whose terminal ends form a double parallel leverage, H 11, adapted to eject the stopper from the bottle-mouth, combined to operate with the bushing K, the stopple N, and retainingspring O, substantially in the manner described.

4. An attached bottle-stopper whose elementary parts consist of cork, rubber, and sulphur, molded and vulcanized, having ellipsoidal soft elastic sealing-surfaces N N at opposite sides, centrally penetrated between said surfaces to receive wires F or H, having the integral hard core M, surrounding said wire, for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification in presence of two attesting witnesses.

LINVI S S. HOYT.

\Vitnesses:

WM. II. MILLER, JOHN F. DAVIS. 

